The Best Corn Fritters Recipe

These easy corn fritters make a wonderful quick breakfast, snack, side, or lunch. They’re made with just a few simple ingredients and can be made ahead of time. Great for meal prep, and can be easily made vegan and gluten-free.

Perfect to be served as an appetizer, a quick lunch, on BBQs, and even for breakfast topped with fried eggs!

We are big fans of corn fritters in my family. We make them very often, and I always keep a bag of frozen corn in my freezer. On days when I have no idea what to cook, these fritters make a speedy snack, breakfast, lunch, or even light but hearty dinner. So this recipe always saves the day!

They’re basically corn cakes that are made from a flavorful batter and sweet corn kernels. They’re gently fried in oil, resulting in crispy exterior, and tender moist centers.

How to Make Corn Fritters

To make corn cakes or fritters you need the following ingredients:

• Corn – I recommend that you use either fresh corn, or canned or frozen corn kernels. If you have a fresh ear of corn, you will get a fresher flavor but to be able to make them all year round I just go for frozen or canned corn.
• Eggs – eggs are important to hold the mixture together, I also tested this recipe with chia eggs and it turned out great. For a chia egg, you need 3 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed.
• Onion – for taste and crunch. I usually go for red onion for color, but you can use yellow or white onion if you prefer.
• Flour, baking powder, spices, and herbs.
• Oil for frying.

The Directions

You will need a food processor to blend the ingredients. I like to blend just half of the corn kernels and leave the other half as a whole as that gives a lovely texture to the fritters.

So to a food processor, add all of the ingredients (and half of the corn kernels), then blend for 10 minutes or until you get a mixture that looks like a chunky batter. It doesn’t need to be super fine.

Then stir in the rest of the corn kernels. If you prefer, you can blend all of the ingredients together at once, but the fritters won’t have much texture.

The mixture/batter will be sticky and that’s ok. Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat, and using an ice cream/cookie scoop or a 1/4 measuring cup, scoop out the batter onto the frying pan to form the fritters and lightly flat them with a spatula. I usually fry every 3 fritters together at a time.

Fry for 3 minutes on one side, then flip the fritters over and cook for 2 more minutes or until they’re golden brown and look cooked through. Repeat with the remaining batter until you run out.

The idea here to cook the fritters on medium heat to make sure that the fritters are cooked through, as frying on high heat will result in really brown fritters that look done from the outside but they will raw from the inside. And remember, we are using eggs in this recipe so it’s important that the fritters are cooked through.

Try making corn fritters with grilled corn!

Top Tips

• Add spices – To add more flavor, feel free to add any dried herbs or spices that you like. You can add cumin, cayenne, garlic and onion powders, smoked paprika, and even dried parsley. You can also add extra fresh herbs to the mixture such as dill or green onions.
• Only drop the mixture in the pan when the oil is hot – Although these fritters are shallow fried (not deep-fried), the oil needs to be hot when you cook the fritters. This will ensure that the fritters turn out crispy from the outside, soft and tender from the inside. If you drop the mixture into cold oil, the fritters won’t hold their texture.
• Do not fry at very high heat – If the heat is too high, the outside will brown too quickly and that means that the fritters won’t cook through. Don’t forget that there are raw eggs in the mixture, so you need to make sure that the fritters and cooked through.
• Depending on the size of your pan, but I usually fry in batches of 3. If you’re using a smaller pan, fry 2 at a time in a few batches and make sure that your fritters are not touching each other. When frying, gently flatten the fritters with a spatula.
• Once cooked, place on a plate with kitchen towels, or a wire rack to get rid of any excess oil.
• Serve warm or at room temperature with sour cream, or yogurt sauce and a cucumber salad (recipes are in the recipe card below).

Storing Tips

• Make ahead: You can make the corn fritters mixture a day in advance and use it on the next day, this comes very handy if you’re planning to make these fritters for breakfast.
• Fridge: Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
• Freezer: Cooked corn cakes or fritters can stay in the freezer for up to 3 months. Reheat in your toaster oven or quickly in a pan. If you reheat in the microwave, the fritters will lose their crispiness.

Recommended Tools for This Recipe

• Non-stick frying pan. I like to shallow fry fritters and vegetable cakes on a good quality wide non-stick heavy-bottomed pan, it ensures that the fritters never stick to the pan and they always cook evenly.
• Food processor. This is the food processor that I love and recommend!
• Glass bowl. This is the set that I have and use for everything from baking to cooking.
• Stainless steel measuring spoons. I’ve had this set for so long now, honestly, the quality is amazing and they will last you for ages!
• Turner. Always make sure that the turner that you’re using is heat-resistant!